The Diablo III Forums have word that Blizzard's action/RPG is currently offline in North America for maintenance as the promised new version 1.04 patch is installed, bringing the new Paragon endgame to the action/RPG sequel (no word on whether this patch will fix the Server Status Page which could be helpful at times like if it worked properly). The post includes the full version 1.04 patch notes to check out while waiting for the game to come back online, which is currently slated for around 4:00 pm EDT today. The European servers are scheduled to start updating tonight and the Asian servers will be patched tomorrow, and this will prevent global play until they are all once again running the same version.

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on Aug 22, 2012, 11:56:Sorry to hear so many tales of woe, but I've put about 5-6 hours into this current patch, with my WD and Barb, and I'm enjoying it a lot so far.

Witch Doctor has been buffed immensely, in my opinion. Not only are pets actually viable in inferno(WD is steamrolling Act 2 now, in MF gear) but they fixed all the animation lag issues for the Witch Doctor attacks, as far as I can tell. Aka casting Ghost Bomb doesn't take a century, it's about as fast as a wizard or DH cast, in terms of animation time. I actually had a 90+ kill spree on my WD with a pet/Acid Rain/Ghost Bomb build, in one of the Kulle bodypart dungeons(Act 2 Inferno).

Compare that to patch 1.03, when my WD was running for his life just trying to kill 1 elite, I'm killing 2-3 at a time now with ease. Arguably my WD is my strongest character now, it's crazy.

Barbarian didn't get quite as good of a buff, but I'm actually progressing with a DPS/Seismic Slam build in Act 3 Inferno, so I can't complain.

I'm going to try out the monk changes today, but my monk is relatively undergeared compared to my WD/Barb.

No RMAH, no GAH use by the way, aside from buying some Tomes of Secrets on the GAH when I first got to Inferno!

Note: Got one of the new legendaries also, but it's a level 52(50?) shield, Centurion or something. It's ok, my DH might use it briefly.

Also, softcore only for me, the netcode/hitbox code doesn't lead me to want to risk the rage-related computer damage of Hardcore.

Sorry to hear so many tales of woe, but I've put about 5-6 hours into this current patch, with my WD and Barb, and I'm enjoying it a lot so far.

Witch Doctor has been buffed immensely, in my opinion. Not only are pets actually viable in inferno(WD is steamrolling Act 2 now, in MF gear) but they fixed all the animation lag issues for the Witch Doctor attacks, as far as I can tell. Aka casting Ghost Bomb doesn't take a century, it's about as fast as a wizard or DH cast, in terms of animation time. I actually had a 90+ kill spree on my WD with a pet/Acid Rain/Ghost Bomb build, in one of the Kulle bodypart dungeons(Act 2 Inferno).

Compare that to patch 1.03, when my WD was running for his life just trying to kill 1 elite, I'm killing 2-3 at a time now with ease. Arguably my WD is my strongest character now, it's crazy.

Barbarian didn't get quite as good of a buff, but I'm actually progressing with a DPS/Seismic Slam build in Act 3 Inferno, so I can't complain.

I'm going to try out the monk changes today, but my monk is relatively undergeared compared to my WD/Barb.

No RMAH, no GAH use by the way, aside from buying some Tomes of Secrets on the GAH when I first got to Inferno!

Note: Got one of the new legendaries also, but it's a level 52(50?) shield, Centurion or something. It's ok, my DH might use it briefly.

Also, softcore only for me, the netcode/hitbox code doesn't lead me to want to risk the rage-related computer damage of Hardcore.

Icewind wrote on Aug 22, 2012, 06:47:So glad I didn't buy this trainwreck. I feel no sympathy for you dipshits who did though

Good thing no one asked for your sympathy then. How would you even know? You're basing everything on other peoples discussions. I had $60 worth of fun out of it even if it was ultimately a major disappointment compared to Diablo 2 so no regrets here. It sucks that I won't get the same kind of play time as I did from Diablo 2 but its also nice that the game has an "end" because there is a ton of other shit to play these days.

I feel no sympathy for you dipshits who did though. The writing was on the wall. With no attribute allocation, no real skill trees, no build creation...it reeked of console-ification. (And Blizzard advertising that they needed console programmers was a good indication this was going in that direction eventually.)

UttiniDaKilrJawa wrote on Aug 22, 2012, 02:32:Just tried it again. Crashed out and dc'd under 3 minutes.

Uninstalled.

Blizzard really f'd that game up.

Yeah, it's still horrible. I logged on my wizard, was in sewers so I try to TP.....nope, had to alt-F4 because I couldn't even leave or exit properly.

Tried again, but it's still laggy as fuck. I get a decent ping, but it's just choppy all the time. This on a computer that could probably run a dozen instances of D3 and not break a sweat. Pathetic. Inferno still rapes me pretty bad too and I just no longer care.

meeeeeeeeee tooooo....... damn friends convinced me. I pre-ordered this game about 2-3 years before release. what a huge let down... Beta convinced me not to bother with it but my friends kept egging me on like the noobie pc gamers they are.. oh well.

Silicon Avatar wrote on Aug 21, 2012, 15:12:I didn't get the game right away and now it'll probably be a long time before I bother. The gameplay just looks stale.

Personally, if you held out this long...just wait for the next ARPG that grabs your attention. Just my opinion of course, but I feel like I only bought the game because as strongly as I felt about things like the RMAH and the always-online requirement, my love for Diablo and my curiosity about where they would take the story kept me believing that Blizzard would push out another game that despite its "on paper" downsides was "in reality" incredibly fun to play.

I was wrong and I hate that I gave them the 60 dollars that basically says "I am the customer and I will pay you to fuck me and one of my favorite franchises all to hell". I mean, the story isn't even good, let alone the gameplay. If I could have made myself wait this long, I think I would probably just satisfy my ARPG itch with Path of Exile until Grim Dawn and Torchlight 2 hit....skipping D3 all together. Obviously, just an opinion...but man I would love to be able to take that purchase back.

I'm past the "I want it because it's Diablo 3" stage.

I think I'll just sit skip it for now and finish other games I already own.

Nobody really seems to be all that satisfied with the game and sixty bucks is sixty bucks.

So if it helps you can say you convinced me to wait (maybe forever) and cut your sixty bucks to thirty.

I just gave it a go just for the hell of it and the rend changes mixed in with the rune that returns a % of health is pretty OP when dealing with a bunch of mobs since it leeches off each target that rend is applied to which I figured would be the case. Pair that with Revenge + Provocation and it's pretty easy to maintain a decent chunk of health.

That said, I can see the difference in items such as how they buffed two-handed weapons (crazy crit damage) and lifted the max weapon damage based on item level north of 60 but it still just feels more or less the same. The items still generate garbage stats in most cases and Paragon levels will only benefit those who still play or enjoy the item grind and plan to stick to that character for a long time to reap the full benefits.

I'll probably play it more to fill in the gap between now and Saturday though but only because I've run out of movies to watch and I have nothing else to really play.

Just tried this latest patch with my friend after both of us not having played for 3+ weeks. The game seemed somewhat choppy to me, but my computer is not so great, but his is brand spanking new and he mentioned it not running well as well. He said "Screw it, this is giving me a headache. Lets go play Team Fortress 2."

Silicon Avatar wrote on Aug 21, 2012, 15:12:I didn't get the game right away and now it'll probably be a long time before I bother. The gameplay just looks stale.

Personally, if you held out this long...just wait for the next ARPG that grabs your attention. Just my opinion of course, but I feel like I only bought the game because as strongly as I felt about things like the RMAH and the always-online requirement, my love for Diablo and my curiosity about where they would take the story kept me believing that Blizzard would push out another game that despite its "on paper" downsides was "in reality" incredibly fun to play.

I was wrong and I hate that I gave them the 60 dollars that basically says "I am the customer and I will pay you to fuck me and one of my favorite franchises all to hell". I mean, the story isn't even good, let alone the gameplay. If I could have made myself wait this long, I think I would probably just satisfy my ARPG itch with Path of Exile until Grim Dawn and Torchlight 2 hit....skipping D3 all together. Obviously, just an opinion...but man I would love to be able to take that purchase back.

Mashiki Amiketo wrote on Aug 21, 2012, 15:28:Yeah I don't know anyone who uses it either, and considering xfire is a craptastic crashfest with D3, for most people. That could very well be another reason why it's dropping off, their overlay causes the game to crash.

I thought that was fixed awhile ago and Xfire is a pretty good way to gauge the casual crowd as they are the most likely users. I would never use the software personally but it has millions of users who do so *shrug*. The whole way it got brought up previously was someone said the game was doing really well and pointed to Xfire stats near the launch period as proof. It kind of backfired though because someone else noticed that the player count kept dropping rapidly over time.

To be honest, I doubt there is a source on the 85% number. Except the one that was pulled out of his ass.

Perhaps but no different than the people who say "only forum minorities are unhappy, most people are happily playing" without ever citing anything

The game sold a lot of copies, no one knows for sure how many are still playing. I can only speak anecdotally for friends and family but they have mostly stopped playing for a variety of reasons. I think the 1.1 patch will be the thing that really pulls people back in for awhile, too much other stuff coming out now that conflicts.

That said, if you're talking about the xfire player drop, it's definitely there and has been the central point of focus when it comes to pointing out the drop in players. While it does have some validity as a tool (the only one we have) to measure a player base, not everyone uses xfire. Honestly, I don't know anyone of my friends who have it but that obviously doesn't mean nobody uses it.

Yeah I don't know anyone who uses it either, and considering xfire is a craptastic crashfest with D3, for most people. That could very well be another reason why it's dropping off, their overlay causes the game to crash.

To be honest, I doubt there is a source on the 85% number. Except the one that was pulled out of his ass.

--"For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong." --H.L. Mencken